For some people, being pro-life isn’t just a slogan. It’s a way of life. This is the case with Kristina and Joey. The three of us recently shared lunch together in a great little Italian restaurant. Naturally, our conversation centered on abortion and the future prospects of ending this modern-day holocaust. Kristina told me her mother, a pro-life activist from years ago, had introduced her and twelve brothers and sisters to the grass roots pro-life movement very young in life. She grew up stuffing envelopes, attending marches and even demonstrating outside an abortion mill. Kristina had good reason to be proud of her pro-life heritage.
I relayed my initiation into pro-life activism as a student in high school. Back then – did I really say those two dreaded words? Yes, back then young pro-life activists were almost rare. They certainly were much less common. The vast majority of the pro-life movement was made up of adults, more mature ones at that.
Over our Italian cuisine, Kristina and Joey’s faces lit up when they spoke about their daughter, Mikayla. Just the weekend before, she had tirelessly worked to persuade a college friend not to abort her unborn child. It seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It’s truly satisfying to see your children hold onto the values you instilled in them. It’s even more fulfilling to witness them putting those beliefs into action.
Unlike the pro-life generation before her, Mikayla has more peers at her side working to protect unborn babies from abortion. Today it’s much more cool and mainstream to be young and pro-life in America.
By the time the waitress had returned to offer us desert, which we dutifully declined, I was telling Kristina and Joey that polling shows the next generation is much more pro-life, much to the chagrin of many of their pro-abortion parents! Just a few years ago several studies were conducted to determine how America’s youth view the world, including their opinion on abortion. Researchers were surprised with their findings. One such study was done by UC Berkeley’s Survey Research Center. Berkeley is a bastion of liberal, pro-abortion thinking, but the results showed the nation’s youth aged 15-22 were noticeably more pro-life than those 27-59.
Zogby International, a highly respected polling firm, found a considerable increase in the number of young adults aged 18-29 who support a total ban on abortion. An extensive study of American college freshmen also concluded pro-life sentiment was gaining ground among this segment of the student body. A New York Times/CBS News poll resulted in similar findings.
One of the reasons given for the next generation’s pro-life convictions is the “survivor syndrome.” These kids fortunately survived their nine-month pregnancy and were not legally aborted. Kelly, a junior at Boston College, said, “When I talk about being a survivor of abortion, I am talking about it from a personal place.”
Further evidence of a youthful pro-life population explosion is all around us. If you’ve recently been to the annual March for Life held in Washington, DC, you’d come away with one clear, unmistakable observation. A good majority of the tens of thousands of marchers are made up of America’s youth.
Also now evident are pro-life youth organizations like Students for Life of America (check out the following page for more information on these remarkable college students). There’s Rock for Life -music is the key element here. And Wash for Life, a network of youth who on a select day conduct a nationwide carwash with all proceeds going to local women help centers that assist women with unexpected pregnancies. There are other groups not mentioned here.
That’s why Life Issues Institute is working hard to further educate America’s youth to the reality of abortion. We’ve developed an interactive CD-ROM for computers called Truth Unmasked, designed exclusively for high school and college youth. It takes them through the issue of abortion – fetal development, statistics, physical and psychological complications, and yes, actual images of what abortion does to these babies. This innovative tool integrates venues that America’s youth excel with – computers and the Internet. We’ve packaged pro-life education into a “high-tech brochure” with the appeal today’s youth demand.
We’ve also partnered with other pro-life organizations that have expended considerable resources of time, money and research on the most effective ways to communicate with youth via the Internet. If Truth Unmasked users have Internet access on their computer, they are only a click away from the top pro-life websites designed just for them – thus considerably expanding their pro-life education and passion.
We’ll be happy to put this CD-ROM into the hands of your local youth for free. Just contact us and we’ll tell you how.
Yes, it’s likely the next generation will determine the future of your children and grandchildren. If we are to put the future of next generations into their hands, we must equip them in the best and most effective way we know how. With a multitude of youth more passionate about protecting unborn babies than past generations, the future looks more promising than ever before!
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